The municipality of Marinha Grande today disclosed procedures that residents must follow for the collection, sorting, and disposal of waste resulting from structural collapses, cleaning of outdoor spaces, and urgent interventions in homes, in the wake of Storm Kristin.
The City Council appeals for everyone’s cooperation for effective waste management, guaranteeing public safety and the gradual restoration of normality, in a statement that clarifies “where and what they can dispose of.”
The aim is “to ensure safe, organized and efficient waste management, avoiding risks to public health and ensuring the proper treatment of each type of material,” explains the Leiria district’s municipal authority.
Residents must carry out preliminary sorting of materials, separating waste before delivery to the locations defined by the council.
Construction waste (excluding fibre cement), such as masonry rubble, ceramics, tiles and small inert debris resulting from structural damage must be delivered at the Municipal Exhibition Park (Parking Lots).
At this site, green debris, such as logs or branches, rubble (without fiber cement), light debris resulting from the storm, and fiber cement (not mixed with other materials) may also be dropped off.
Wood should be separated into planks, wooden structures and damaged pallets.
The same for metal sheets, separated into metal mesh, hardware and damaged metal structures.
In the Sports Zone adjacent to the tennis courts, only green waste may be delivered, namely branches, trunks, foliage, gardening debris and land-clearing waste.
Residents with their own means of transport may go directly to the site to unload materials, as announced in the public notice.
Companies, however, must “follow the mandatory procedures” and the applicable law, and should therefore contact a licensed company for the reception and treatment of waste; ensure that waste ends up at an appropriate and authorized final destination and not deposit industrial or commercial waste at the points designated for residents.
Ten people have died since last week as a result of the severe weather. Civil Protection counted five deaths directly associated with the passage of Storm Kristin, and the Marinha Grande City Council announced another fatality, which was followed later by four additional deaths caused by roof collapses (during repairs) or generator poisoning.
The storm’s main material consequences include the total or partial destruction of houses, businesses and equipment; fallen trees and structures; road closures or obstructions and transport services, especially rail lines; school closures; and outages of energy, water and communications, which left hundreds injured and displaced.
Leiria, Coimbra and Santarém are the districts most affected.
The Government declared a state of calamity until next Sunday for 68 municipalities and announced a package of support measures totaling up to 2.5 billion euros.
